Karuna's spokesman, Varathan, later said that they were misled byPrabhakaran's troops. It is still not clear how many cadres Prabhakaran used to carry out the attack, withconflicting reports putting the figures between 300 and 1000. However, intelligence reveals that the LTTEleader is sending more reinforcements to the area. Even the casualty figures are not currently known, thoughthere has been a lull in the fighting over the weekend as this report is written. Conflicting accountsindicate casualty figures between 50 and 250, on both sides. Neither side would like to give correct figures,since this is a battle of prestige for Prabhakaran and a battle of survival for Karuna.
Sources close to Karuna say that his withdrawal from the area was tactical and that he is ready for a wideroffensive and a fierce onslaught now. Prabhakaran's troops still haven't confronted Karuna's crack fighters.It is, however, not going to be easy for Karuna either, since infiltration has already taken place and thegroups would now have to fight in a no-mans-land, with Prabhakaran's troops having secured the advantage ofthe capture of Verugal, Vakarai and Mankerni.
President Kumaratunga, as the Commander-in-Chief of Sri Lanka's Forces, has given strict orders to the ArmedForces not to get involved in the LTTE's factional confrontation. The battle is taking place in LTTEcontrolled areas, and is not expected to spill over into areas controlled by the Government. With her UnitedPeople's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government now in power, Kumaratunga is also keen to get on with the peacetalks with the LTTE as early as possible, to regain the confidence of the international donor community. HerGovernment has agreed in principle to discuss the LTTE's proposal for an Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA),which her party rejected when they were in the opposition. The Sri Lankan Army is now carrying out reliefoperations for the displaced civilians. The International Committee of the Red Cross, UNHCR and the Sri LankaRed Cross have also started relief operations.
The Armed Forces, however, have been put on full alert. The Ministry of Defence has also written to theNorwegian facilitators, stating that the factional hostilities in the LTTE were a violation of the ceasefireagreement signed between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. The Government would, at this juncture, likethe Norwegians to get involved, though the LTTE had, in the early stages itself, stated that the conflict wasan 'internal matter' and they would sort it out by their 'own methods'. The international community and thepeace lobbies, which had been severely critical of Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and theMarxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as being 'anti-peace', have so far been silent in the face of thebloody fight between the LTTE's factions.
Prabhakaran would obviously want to finish off Karuna as soon as possible to establish his claim as the 'sole'representative of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The longer Karuna survives, the greater the loss of credibility forPrabhakaran. Prabhakaran cannot, further, commence peace talks with the new Government until he proves hismight to the world. Karuna has tarnished his image severely with the latest allegations that Prabhakaransmuggled 11 shiploads of arms during the truce.
Having established his control over Verugal and other areas, Prabhakaran has now commenced intensivepsychological operations in the Eastern area, calling on Karuna's cadres to go back to their homes. Thesituation is, however, also complicated for Prabhakaran, who will find it difficult to attack Karuna withoutcrossing the Government-controlled A 11 Batticaloa-Colombo road, since Karuna has moved back to his bases inMeenaham, Karadiyanru and Thoppigala.